


of hidden towns and the people that find them

by nightshade002



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Healer Iwaizumi, M/M, Magic, Panic Attacks, Spells & Enchantments, Spellwriter Oikawa, elaborate backstories for characters, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-16 13:29:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10572282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightshade002/pseuds/nightshade002
Summary: Seijou is a town that only specific people can find. To the rest of the world, it doesn't exist. Anyone who leaves cannot find their way back. Iwaizumi has lived there in relative peace for years. That is until Oikawa shows up on his doorstep in the middle of the night.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astersandstuffs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astersandstuffs/gifts).



> this is for Rikka (astersandstuffs) for the iwaoi exchange whose prompt was any magic/fantasy au and... well... i tend to go all out with magic aus so this is the first chapter of a few because i started and it kind of got longer than i thought it would
> 
> that said, i really love what i've got of this so far and now i know random facts about the magical values of plants that i didn't know before
> 
> also, huge shout out to my friend (@purpleninjadancer on tumblr) for beta reading this even though she's never read or watched haikyuu and only knows that i love it
> 
> enjoy!

Iwaizumi was awoken by weak knocking. He blearily rubbed his eyes and sat up, also waking up the cat sleeping next to his face. The knocking had stopped, but he was certain that he hadn’t imagined it. He didn’t bother with a candle, simply lit a flame in his palm and made his way to the front door, doing his best not to trip on anything on the way. He couldn’t hear anything outside, which would most likely mean the person had left or hadn’t been there in the first place. Still, Iwaizumi had to check. He opened the door and had to quickly extinguish the flame in order to catch the person falling at him.

The stranger wasn’t dead, that much was proven by the sharp intake of breath when Iwaizumi caught them and the, “Help… please,” they breathed out before going completely limp in his grip.

 _They must have simultaneously the best and worst luck ever,_ Iwaizumi thought as he carried them to his work room. He cleared off the table in the middle as best he could to lay the stranger on it. He didn’t bother with matches to light all the candles, just used a spark of his magic to light them all. Nothing appeared wrong from a first view, but _obviously_ people don’t just collapse for no reason. The only part of their clothes that looked even remotely scuffed up was the knee of their right pant leg. Iwaizumi started working on the laces of their boots, getting more and more frustrated as he went along, cursing how long it was taking.

When he finally got the boots off, he pulled the stranger’s pants off, prioritizing their life rather than their privacy. Doing so revealed that they had been struck by _something_ , Iwaizumi just didn’t know what. It looked as though someone had spilled ink all over their knee and the ink had started to spread, all the way up their leg and disappearing under their shirt. It got fainter as it progressed, but not by much which wasn’t a good sign. Iwaizumi sighed and started unbuttoning their shirt to see how far the curse had spread. It had slowed as soon as it got past their leg, with more surface area to spread across. Still, the stranger whimpered quietly as the curse stretched even farther over their torso. It was about halfway to the stranger’s heart, but Iwaizumi _should_ be able to stop it before it turned fatal.

Iwaizumi went to the cabinet and started pulling out different plants he might need. He carried them over and set them on the table by the stranger’s head. He figured a good place to start would be with centaury. Placing his hand on the table, he concentrated on making it more of a tub than a table, leaving the place by the stranger’s head still flat and making sure that the transformation went slow so as not to jostle them. As soon as he could do it without spilling anything, he started filling it with water. Once it was full, he sprinkled some of the centaury flowers into the water. The stranger thrashed around as the curse seemed to not like the fact that something was being done. Holding them down wouldn’t do much because Iwaizumi could only really hold onto their shoulders and he couldn’t make them relax with magic because the effect of the centaury would just wipe his magic away too. Eventually, they calmed down and the curse stopped its progress, but it wasn’t disappearing.

He hovered his hand over the water and cleared out all traces of the centaury before quickly grabbing galangal. The curse still seemed stationary, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last. He quickly cut up the root and put the pieces in the water. This time, Iwaizumi was glad he could use his magic to relax them. Their reaction was almost immediate when the galangal started to take effect, and Iwaizumi was nearly soaked by the time he could placate the stranger. The black that was spread across their skin was writhing, but it was shrinking gradually. Iwaizumi would refill the water, but he wasn’t certain he would have enough energy left to keep the stranger still if he tried. The curse was receding back towards their leg, so hopefully he wouldn’t have to hold them down much longer.

Finally, it was just circling around their knee, but it wouldn’t disappear completely. Iwaizumi was exhausted at this point, barely able to keep his eyes open. He had rearranged himself so he was sitting next to the tub but could still see the progress. Still, he took his hands off the stranger and cut up more of the galangal root. The stranger seemed to be fine without Iwaizumi practically pouring his magic into them in order to keep them still, but they started thrashing around again as soon as the fresh galangal entered the water. Though it was weaker this time, Iwaizumi knelt back on the floor and put his hands back on the stranger’s shoulder and the back of their neck. He leaned his head on his arm and watched as the last traces of the curse finally faded. With the remains of his energy, he cleared the water out of the tub and changed it into a bed. He himself was still lying mostly on the floor with only his head on the bed. A shiver from the stranger made him remember that they were still wet and only partially clothed, so he summoned a blanket and dried them off the best he could before passing out.

\--

Light was streaming through the window when Iwaizumi woke up and it took him a while to remember why he wasn’t in his own bed. He didn’t really have the energy to move very far yet, so he opted for simply lifting a hand to pet his cat, who had fallen asleep in front of his face. A quick glance at the stranger told him that they were still alive and breathing. He sighed with relief. At least all of his hard work wasn’t for nothing. Still, it would be awhile before they would wake up, judging on the intensity of the curse. Truth be told, Iwaizumi would like if it were a while before _he_ woke up. He reluctantly pushed himself to his feet, groaning both at the pain in _every single muscle_ and at the mess that had been made of his work room. He was sorely tempted to have the stranger pick everything up as payment for literally saving their life, but he decided he’d just do it himself.

He crouched down and lifted the blanket away from the stranger’s legs. They shifted but remained otherwise unresponsive. All traces of the curse were gone, but they’d have to stay off their knee for a while and Iwaizumi’d probably have to wrap it. He put the blanket back before standing up and going back to his own room. He took a pillow off of his bed and took it to the stranger, gently lifting up their head and setting it down on the pillow. At some point, he should move them somewhere else, but he didn’t have the energy for that at the moment.

After he made sure they were comfortable, he started cleaning up. He was glad he hadn’t taken many things out because everything he _had_ taken out was spread across the floor. Almost all of it would be unusable. Well, he could use it, but Iwaizumi would never try to heal someone with anything that had been on the floor.

He’d barely started picking up when he heard faint whimpering coming from the stranger. He set down what was in his hands and went to check on them. They shot up right after he knelt next to them, sitting rigid, eyes darting around rapidly.

“He’s coming- He-” the stranger rushed out in a panic, gripping onto Iwaizumi’s arm. “We have to-”

“Hey, hey, shh,” Iwaizumi said softly. “You’re okay now, you’re safe.”

“No, no, you don’t understand, he- he-” they started hyperventilating and couldn’t get the rest of the words out.

Iwaizumi reached out to place a hand on the stranger’s shoulder. They didn’t flinch away, so he set his hand down and started to ease the stranger back onto their back. “You’re safe here,” he said as the stranger tried to sit back up, struggles getting weaker and weaker as their energy drained. “Everything will be okay.”

“But-”

“You’re _safe_.”

They finally settled down, going back into a deep sleep. Iwaizumi stayed next to them for a while after, just to make sure they didn’t wake up like that again. Once he was sure they wouldn’t, he went back to cleaning up. They stirred a little bit, every once in awhile, but other than that stayed asleep.

\--

It was almost completely dark outside when the stranger woke up again. They were much calmer this time, Iwaizumi wouldn't have been able to tell they were awake if not for the slight change in their breathing. 

“You’re finally awake,” he commented. They nodded as they slowly sat up, wincing a little. “What's your name?”

“O-oikawa,” they forced out, voice rough.

“I'm Iwaizumi. Do you know what happened?”

“Um… I… not really,” Oikawa responded slowly, looking around the room nervously.

Iwaizumi sighed. “I saved your life. The least you could do is tell me the truth.”

“I did!” they protested. “Where am I?”

“Nowhere you've heard of.”

“What does that even mean?” they asked, then shook their head. “Whatever, thanks for saving my life, but I can handle myself just fine, so I'm leaving.”

“Seriously?” Iwaizumi asked. “That’s it?” Oikawa nodded. Iwaizumi fought to keep a straight face. “Fine then, go ahead and walk out.”

Oikawa narrowed their eyes. “What's the catch?”

“No catch.” Iwaizumi stood up and gestured to the door. “Go right ahead. I wouldn’t if I were you, but it’s your decision.”

They slowly stood up, and Iwaizumi gave them credit for getting that far. However, as soon as they tried to take a step, their knee buckled. He was right there to catch them, though.

“Let go of me!”

“I thought you were going to walk out?” Iwaizumi teased. “I thought you were just fine. Obviously you would know better than a trained healer.”

“Then heal me and let me leave,” Oikawa growled.

“You’re free to leave as soon as you’re healed.”

“Heal me then.”

Iwaizumi sighed. “Believe me, the sooner you’re out of my house, the better. But you’re stuck here for now because someone showed up half dead at my doorstep in the middle of the night and I used all of my magic healing them. Care to guess who that was?”

Oikawa was silent for a while. They stopped struggling in Iwaizumi’s arms. “So I'm stuck here?” they asked quietly.

“Until I have enough magic to finish healing you,” Iwaizumi confirmed.

“How long will that be?”

“Hopefully not more than a week.”

“A week?” Oikawa asked, raising their voice. “I can't stay here for a week!”

“I can't just let you try to fend for yourself while you’re injured and can’t walk,” Iwaizumi argued. “You'll have to stay here. Unless you have some sort of healing abilities for yourself, I'm the only one close who can help you.” They clenched their jaw, obviously wanting to say more. “Just let me help you.”

“You don't understand. I can't stay in one place for an entire week.”

“Look,” Iwaizumi started, “I don't know what's going on with you, what you're running from, but I do know that whatever it is, it won't find you here.”

“You don't know that. You haven't gone through what I'm going through. When I say I can't stay here for a week, that means I can't stay here.”

“Do you know why I said you've never heard of here before?” Iwaizumi asked. Oikawa was about to respond when Iwaizumi cut them off. “Because no one has. Or if they have, it's just a rumor. Outside of the actual residents, very few people know that this is a real place. Only those in need can find it and once they leave they can never find it again. So trust me when I say you're safe and you can and will stay here for a week or until you're fully healed.”

“There's no way that a place like that actually exists. It's not possible.”

Iwaizumi sighed. “Whether you believe me or not doesn’t matter. You’re not going anywhere with your knee how it is and after I wrap it, it’s still not good enough for you to walk on it all the time. So either you wait a week for me to heal it while I’m still recovering my magic or you wait a month or more for it to heal on its own.”

Oikawa huffed and refused to make eye contact with Iwaizumi, instead looking stubbornly at the floor. “Fine. I’ll stay here. But only for a week. It’s too long as it is, I won’t stay longer.”

“I suppose I can take that. You stay until you’re healed,” Iwaizumi agreed. “If it takes longer than a week, I can’t force you to stay here, but I advise not getting into fights. Especially not like whatever kind of fight you got into before you got here.”

“I didn't-”

“Sure you didn't,” Iwaizumi interrupted, “I'm sure that all of this was part of some elaborate plan you have that includes not being able to walk for a while.” He sighed. “I can help you better if you tell me what happened.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Oikawa insisted.

“Whatever you say.” Iwaizumi helped them sit back down on the bed. “I’m gonna check you over, make sure I have an idea of what I’m trying to heal, if that’s alright with you.”

They huffed and crossed their arms, looking away from him. He rolled his eyes at their childishness. “Iwaizumi, before you do...” Iwaizumi looked up at them, surprised to see their face subtly flushed. “Where are the rest of my clothes?”

He could feel his face getting warmer each second as he attempted to stammer out a response. “W-well, you know, you were like… dying and… and I figured y-you wouldn’t mind because… you were dying… and… they’re in a pile in the corner,” he finally forced out, completely red in the face.

Oikawa laughed and through his embarrassment, Iwaizumi was the smallest bit glad that they could smile. It took him nearly a year after he found his way into the town for him to feel anything positive and a bit longer before he could smile. After a few minutes, Oikawa finally settled down. “It’s been awhile since I laughed like that,” they murmured.

“Is there anywhere other than your knee that hurts?” Iwaizumi asked, finally getting serious. Oikawa shook their head and Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure? It’s _just_ your knee?”

“I guess my ankle hurts a little, too. The right one. And I mean I’m sore all over, but that’s to be expected considering-” they stopped abruptly. Iwaizumi sighed, adding the comments to his mental list of things to check.

“Do you have any magical ability?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Iwaizumi glared at them. “I was just curious! I do have magic, mostly combative, but I haven't used it in a while. And I can write spells sometimes.”

Iwaizumi nodded. “I figured you’d have magic.” He’d be sure to ask later about the spell writing, but with how unwilling they’d been to talk, he doubted they would say anything about it. As far as he knew, people capable of writing their own spells were very rare. He could think of only one other that had come through the town since he arrived. “I need to know about your magic because there’s a difference between what magical and non-magical people can handle with magical healing,” he explained, answering Oikawa’s previous question. “The next part will hurt a bit because I have to assess the actual physical damage and that means I have to press down on places that were injured.”

“Just get it over with.”

He started pressing down on different places of Oikawa’s knee. Every so often, they would flinch a little and try to pull their leg away. They didn’t seem to want to actually admit they were in pain, however, so Iwaizumi had to judge based on their reaction, a slight twitch of the knee, grabbing onto the blanket and twisting, biting their lip, squeezing their eyes shut. He pressed down just below the kneecap on the outside of their knee and Oikawa’s hand shot out to grab his wrist. He pressed down again, harder, and Oikawa’s grip tightened and they dug their nails into his wrist.

“This part hurt the most?” he asked, letting up. Oikawa nodded. “Okay, it shouldn’t take too much to heal this. It doesn’t seem too serious or anything and even without magic, you’d probably be able to walk on it in about a week anyway with enough rest and if you take care of it right.” He moved on to check their ankle. With just a glance, he could tell that it wouldn’t heal quickly. “You sprained your ankle. It’s pretty bad.”

“But-” they interrupted.

“ _Minimum_ , I can heal it in two weeks, _maybe_ a week and a half, but that’d be pushing it and I don’t think it’s a good idea to try it.”

“Why can’t you just heal it?” they complained.

Iwaizumi sighed. Everyone seemed to think that healing magic would instantly make them better again, but in reality it took a lot of energy to do much more than small injuries and it only sped up the healing process. “I can try to heal you as fast as possible, but it takes time to make sure it’s right.”

They didn’t respond, only glared at him. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and pushed himself to his feet to get bandages to wrap their knee and ankle with. Once he was sure they were wrapped correctly, he grabbed two cold packs.

“Just leave these where I put them and they’ll alternate between being cold and warm to help ease any pain or swelling.” Oikawa nodded, apparently still refusing to speak. “I’m going out. You should get some rest.”

“If it makes any difference,” Iwaizumi said, stopping at the door, “I hate seeing you in pain.”

He closed the door behind him, assuming they would prefer it that way, then went to get dressed. Belatedly, he realized that he hadn't actually been wearing a shirt the entire time. There was no way they hadn't noticed, then, the mark on his shoulder. It was no wonder they didn't trust him if they saw it. If he lived anywhere else, he wouldn't trust anyone with the mark on them either. He only returned to his workroom to grab his bag. Oikawa had fallen asleep and Iwaizumi only paused briefly next to them to sprinkle betony on their pillow to prevent nightmares.

The walk into town was quiet and at one point Iwaizumi paused to simply enjoy being outside in the sun. He readjusted the strap of his bag before continuing on, the edges of the town coming into view. It was by no means a large town, the enchantment over it wouldn't hold if it were too large and the enchantment itself was very picky with the people it let through. Still, Iwaizumi preferred it because while it was small, everyone was friendly with each other for the most part. And unlike most smaller towns, everyone respected everyone else's privacy.

“Iwaizumi! You're late!” Iwaizumi turned to see Hanamaki jogging towards him. “You're never late!”

“Ah, sorry. I was up in the middle of the night.”

“Nightmare?” Hanamaki asked, concern in his eyes. 

Iwaizumi shook his head. “Unexpected visitor.”

“Oh? Someone new?” Hanamaki positioned himself so he was walking backwards in front of Iwaizumi. “What's their name?”

“Oikawa. That's about all I know though. I don't wanna push them.”

“Oikawa?” Iwaizumi nodded. “I feel like I’ve heard that name before.” 

“I never have, but that doesn’t mean much.” 

The only real contact with the rest of the world Iwaizumi had in the past few years was through new people arriving into town. Many things had changed since he had arrived, apparently. Most notably, magic was actually _accepted_ now, which would have changed so many things for Iwaizumi in the past, but it wasn’t like he could change anything that had already happened. Hanamaki, however, had only arrived in the past year or two and was, according to the town, the go-to reference for anything recent since his was the newest arrival.

“You gonna introduce them to the town?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. They seem pretty damn set on leaving as soon as possible, though, so I’m not sure they’ll actually want to. Even if they agree, it’ll be a few days before I’m sure they’ll be able to handle the walk.”

“They’re hurt?” Hanamaki asked in surprise. “No wonder you look like shit-”

“Hey!”

“Were you up all night healing them? Did you pass out again?” he fussed.

“Calm down, I feel like I’m being interrogated,” Iwaizumi grumbled, pushing Hanamaki away.

“You’re dodging my questions, Iwaizumi,” Hanamaki pointed out. “You did, didn’t you?”

“It's not a big deal.”

Hanamaki rolled his eyes. “Of course, forgive me for worrying about my friend.”

“I've got something for your headaches by the way,” Iwaizumi said, abruptly changing the subject. Hanamaki noticed, of course, but didn't comment on it.

“I haven't even told you about those yet, how could you possibly know?”

Iwaizumi smiled. “It's my job to know and keep you from finding out how I know,” he said as he pulled a small container out of his bag with Hanamaki’s name on it. “I put the instructions in here, too, so you don't forget what I said again.”

“You're a real lifesaver,” Hanamaki said with a smirk.

“Are you just gonna follow me around all day or did you have something actually useful to do?” Iwaizumi asked as the arrived in town. “I do have a job to do.”

“Depends. Are you gonna let me meet the new arrival?”

“I don't want it announced to the entire town until I know whether they'll stay or leave. If Oikawa’s gonna leave, why bother introducing them to everyone.”

“Who's Oikawa?”

Iwaizumi sighed and looked up at the sky. He had a feeling some of Oikawa’s bad luck had rubbed off on him.

“New arrival,” Hanamaki answered Matsukawa’s question.

“Why haven't I heard of them yet?”

“Because,” Iwaizumi said, cutting off Hanamaki, “they're probably not staying. As soon as they're healed they want to leave.”

“Ah, so that's why you look like shit.”

Iwaizumi squinted up at him. “Are you sure you and Hanamaki aren't the same person?”

“Did you pass out again?”

Iwaizumi stopped in his tracks and looked away from them. “I'm leaving. You two are the same person.”

“He did pass out, by the way,” Hanamaki chimed in. Iwaizumi glared at him. “He just wants to act tough.”

Iwaizumi took back everything he said about respecting privacy. Apparently if it was his own, everyone got to know.

He shook his head. “I'm fine. Honestly you'd think I didn't know how to take care of myself with how you two act.”

“You take care of the entire town, someone's gotta take care of you.”

“Yes and I've found I do a stellar job of it.”

Matsukawa and Hanamaki were silent for a few seconds. At first, Iwaizumi welcomed it, but then he remembered that silence was never a good thing with these two. He looked back at them and found them smiling at each other, which would have been cute if he hadn't known _exactly_ what those smiles meant.

“No. Whatever you're thinking, no.” He started walking away from them quickly.

“But Iwa,” Hanamaki started, quickly catching up to him and slinging an arm over his shoulders.

“We always have the greatest ideas,” Matsukawa finished, doing the same thing.

“Absolutely not.”

“What, do you not trust us?”

“Not at all.” Iwaizumi responded almost instantly. “Not when you’re making that face.”

“Come on, Iwa. We’re just worried about you,” Hanamaki said.

“Yeah, but you don’t need to be. I’m fine,” he said as he climbed the stairs to the town’s post office. It was just a building with a wall of cubby holes that the town collectively kept in shape. Not many people actually used it to send things, but it was easier for Iwaizumi to deliver medicines and things like that than spending all day doing deliveries. Most of the people in town checked it at least once a day, despite not actually using it themselves, so Iwaizumi typically got there early in the morning to make sure everyone got what they needed. Today was obviously an exception because of Oikawa.

“Prove it then,” Hanamaki challenged.

“What? Why?”

“If you can prove it, we’ll get off your back,” Matsukawa bargained.

“Fine,” Iwaizumi snapped. “What do you want me to do to prove it?”

“Just use a little, tiny bit of magic and we’ll stop bothering you.”

“Promise?”

“Of course,” they both answered at the same time.

Iwaizumi shook his head. “Same person,” he muttered and shrugged them off his shoulders. He wasn’t necessarily planning to use magic, but it would speed things up. As soon as he floated the first few containers out of his bag, he realized what a bad idea it had been. Immediately he felt dizzy and his head started to pound. He was stubborn, though, and refused to just give up after only a few seconds. He only stopped when he stumbled backwards into Matsukawa.

“I think that’s enough for now,” Matsukawa said, pushing him back up so he was standing again. “We can finish putting these in the right holes, you go sit down.”

Iwaizumi would have argued, but sitting down seemed very inviting. He handed them his bag and sat against the wall, watching them finish his job for him. The dizziness gradually faded, though the headache was annoyingly persistent. It didn’t take the two of them very long, but he was drifting off to sleep by the time they were done anyway.

“What are your thoughts on us meeting this Oikawa person?” Hanamaki asked. Iwaizumi shrugged. “Great, that’s a yes.”

Matsukawa walked over and picked Iwaizumi up, one arm under his shoulders and one under his knees, like he weighed almost nothing.

“I can walk, you know,” Iwaizumi grumbled, but he didn’t move to get down.

“This is what friends are for,” Matsukawa said. “Just relax all we’re doing is going back to your house.”

Hanamaki ruffled Iwaizumi’s hair. “You know relax isn’t in Iwa’s vocabulary.”

Iwaizumi huffed and crossed his arms. The walk back to his house was, for the most part, uneventful. Enough that he started falling asleep again. Matsukawa didn't bother waking him up when they got back, he just laid Iwaizumi on his bed and covered him with a blanket.

“We probably shouldn't meet Oikawa without Iwaizumi,” Hanamaki whispered.

“He'll probably wake up soon,” Matsukawa whispered back. “You finally won't be the baby of the town.”

“I'm not even the youngest one here!”

“No, but you have been here shortest. It makes me feel old.”

“I'm literally older than you.”

“Maybe but you're shorter.”

“Aww but Issei you love our height difference,” Hanamaki pouted, leaning against Matsukawa.

“You got me there,” Matsukawa smiled.

Their conversation was cut short by Iwaizumi emerging from his room, yawning and rubbing his eyes. “How long was I asleep?”

“Including the walk back here about a half hour,” Hanamaki answered. “Can we meet them now?”

Iwaizumi nodded and led them back to his work room. “Don’t be weird,” he said and opened the door. Oikawa immediately sat up, tense and seemingly afraid until they saw Iwaizumi.

“Oh, it’s just you,” they murmured, relaxing slightly but by no means looking at ease.

“Not just me,” Iwaizumi said. “I brought some friends that wanted to meet you. If you’d like to meet them, that is.”

“Do I have much of a choice?” Oikawa asked, leaning back on their hands and glaring up at Iwaizumi.

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

Oikawa sighed. “Fine. They can come in.”

Hanamaki burst in first, he’d clearly been waiting outside the door listening in. Iwaizumi glared at him, but he didn’t notice. He was just… standing there, staring at Oikawa. Iwaizumi looked to Oikawa, doing the same. His gaze flitted back and forth between the two, extremely confused because this was the quietest either of them had been that he knew of.

“Makki?” came Oikawa’s voice finally. It was quiet, disbelieving, and extremely vulnerable.

“Kawa?” Hanamaki breathed out. “Gods, is it really you?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry this took so long, but here's a second chapter! if you'll notice i also made this chapter 2 of _4_ now because this chapter was supposed to be like twice this length but i wanted to update sooner

“Makki you’re-” Oikawa rushed out and Iwaizumi could see tears start collecting in their eyes, “you’re alive? I thought- I thought you would have-”

“Me? What about you? How did you even manage to get out?” Hanamaki asked, dropping to the floor next to Oikawa and pulling them into a hug.

“What are you doing here?”

Hanamaki pulled back a little and Iwaizumi could see tears streaming down both of their faces. “I live here. In town.”

“You… live here?” Oikawa asked in confusion.

“Yeah,” he nodded excitedly, “pretty much since I got out. I stumbled into, like, the center of the village a few days after I escaped and I haven’t left since.”

“How? They haven’t stopped looking for you and it’s been more than two years.”

“It’s part of the town’s enchantment. No one can find it unless they need to.”

Oikawa frowned slightly. “How though? Iwaizumi said something about that, but it doesn’t make sense.” They started coughing a little before continuing, “No magic is that strong.”

“I don’t really know myself. Honestly Iwa’s the one to ask about any of the technical stuff with the magic.” Hanamaki had to pause when Oikawa started coughing again. “He’s been here longer than most of the rest of us.”

“But-” they dissolved into a fit of coughing and Hanamaki moved back to give Iwaizumi room. They tried to push Iwaizumi away with a hand on his chest, but he easily pushed their hand away. “I’m fine, it’s just coughing,” they managed between coughs.

“Right. Remember what happened last time you tried to think you knew more about this than me?” Oikawa pouted, but didn’t argue any more. “Exactly.”

Iwaizumi turned around and made a shooing motion at Hanamaki and Matsukawa. They left the room, closing the door behind them, but it was obvious Hanamaki didn’t want to leave.

“Why’d you make them leave?” Oikawa asked.

“You should be able to tell them what happened at your own pace. Right now, only you and I know you were hit by some sort of nasty curse. I’m gonna do my part to keep it that way unless you let me know it’s ok to tell anyone else. What happened to you isn’t my story to tell,” Iwaizumi explained. He rested his hand on Oikawa’s forehead and took a deep breath to brace himself from the dizziness that currently accompanied using his magic. “You got sick from the curse. Luckily, it’s an easy fix. I’ve got some medicine that _should_ get rid of it quickly.”

“So they don’t know about what happened?”

Iwaizumi shook his head. “All they know is healing you tired me out. Past that, I haven’t told them anything.”

“Thank you,” Oikawa said quietly after a moment of silence.

“It’s nothing.” Iwaizumi shrugged. “I just remember when I got here a few years ago I didn’t want to share anything with anyone. Figured you’d want the same thing. People here are generally pretty accepting of everything if you ever decide to share, but I’m leaving that completely up to you. And they’ll understand if you don’t share.”

“What happened with you?” Oikawa asked.

“Ah, that… is a story for later.”

Iwaizumi pushed himself to his feet and walked into the closet to get the medicine for Oikawa. While he was out of their sight, he took the time to take a deep breath and calm down. He should have expected them to ask, but for some reason he didn’t anticipate it. He still hadn’t told anyone the whole story, it was hard for him to talk about. Even Hanamaki and Matsukawa didn’t know it all. And yet, he was almost ready to tell Oikawa the whole truth.

Oikawa’s coughing made him remember where he was. He shook his head and brought out the medicine for them. “Here, eat this. I’ll get you some water to wash it down with.”

Oikawa took it and looked at it suspiciously. “Is this even safe?”

“Of course it is,” Iwaizumi responded before leaving the room to get water.

“They’re okay, right?” Hanamaki asked almost as soon as Iwaizumi closed the door behind himself.

“They’re fine. You two should get going if you want to make it home before dark, it’s nearly there and I don’t have room in my house for three extra people.”

“But-”

“You’re right, we should be going,” Matsukawa cut Hanamaki off. 

Hanamaki looked torn between arguing and just leaving, but he sighed and turned away. “See you, Iwa.”

“You two can come by tomorrow, but don’t tell anyone else about Oikawa yet. If they’re not gonna stay, there’s no point in letting the entire town know about them.”

The two showed themselves out and Iwaizumi went to get a cup of water for Oikawa before returning to his work room.

“Is Makki still here?” they asked after they drained the cup.

Iwaizumi shook his head. “I sent him and Matsukawa home for tonight. I don’t have enough room in my house for them to stay and they shouldn’t be outside after dark.”

“Oh, I see,” Oikawa said quietly into the cup.

“They’ll both be back tomorrow.”

“So what happened with you? You said it was a story for later and now is later,” they asked, looking up from the cup.

Iwaizumi shrugged. “It’s not exactly the most pleasant of stories, so it might not be one you’d want to hear before sleeping.”

“I’ll tell you about what happened with me if you tell me your story,” they suggested.

“If you insist,” Iwaizumi sighed, sitting down on the mattress next to their feet. “I used to be a physician for the royal family. Well, I was in training, but my father was getting old, so I was mostly doing everything. I think I was around 13 or 14 when I learned about my magic. I know it’s different now, but back then it was punishable by death the last I know of. I tried desperately to keep anyone from finding out, but I also knew that I could help people with it. I only used magic in emergency situations, so it worked well for a while. No one found out. But then my father got really sick. Sicker than any medicine I know of could heal. He didn’t even know I had magic at first, but when he made his miraculous recovery, he knew. He reported it to the King. The King sent soldiers for me and locked me in the dungeons. That’s where I got the brand on my shoulder. They planned on killing me the next day, but they still felt it necessary to brand me as a traitor like magic is a conscious decision and automatically means betrayal. I managed to get away, just barely. It took a while before I could make my way into the forest. After that, I… ended up here and I haven’t left.”

“I suppose we’ve both got pretty shitty fathers, then,” Oikawa said after a moment of silence. “For the record, it’s not like that with magic anymore. It’s not much better, but at least there’s no threat of death. Instead of that, we’re supposed to be sent to the King for him to use our skills as we see fit. No one is under the impression that it’ll actually be a good thing to work for the King, but it’s the law and if you don’t come willingly, they’ll drag you all the way to the castle if need be. That’s what happened with me. My father was there when I found out I have magic and I begged him not to tell anyone. I didn’t want to be sent away. I fought when they came to get me, took down quite a few soldiers,” they said with a smirk on their face. 

It didn’t last long, though, before their face fell. “I was… knocked unconscious. It was the only way they could take me anywhere without a fight. I was stuck in that castle for years. I tried to get out so often that they put me in a room by myself and assigned at least three guards to me at any time. They wouldn’t normally care so much, I think, but I was one of the few spell writers they had. It took a few years for me to break out.” 

They took a shuddering breath. 

“I didn’t get far before one of the guards noticed and sent for backup. There was only one guard who surpassed me in magical ability and would have any chance at beating me in a fight. He was the one that knocked me out when I was first captured. He was the only one that could keep up with me once I was out and we fought, but his attacks didn’t do anything physical to me. Most of them just made me see… things I was afraid of. I got away from him and started running into the forest near the castle, but before I got too far, he cast two spells. I’m not sure what the first one did, but the second one was the one that hit my knee. I don’t really remember what happened other than running through the woods and tripping once or twice after that and before I woke up here.”

Iwaizumi was silent. It was honestly a lot of information to process and he wasn’t entirely sure how to react. Luckily Oikawa spoke again.

“Are we really safe here? Like for sure? They can’t find me here?”

“You knew Hanamaki when you were in that castle, right?” Oikawa nodded. “How long did they search for him after he escaped?”

“They’re still looking. But his case was different from mine. They’ll look much harder for me.”

“They still haven’t found him, though. I’m sure people tried to hunt me down after I got away, but I’ve been living here ever since then and no one has found me.”

“So I could really stay here?” Iwaizumi nodded. “For how long?”

“As long as you want. Though, time passes differently here. Or that’s what we figure, because I’m from a completely different time than Hanamaki or Matsukawa. Sometimes the time fits up with the rest of the world, but if I were to leave, I’d be going into a completely new world.”

“Have you ever thought about leaving?” they asked, stifling a yawn. Iwaizumi looked out the window and saw that it was already completely dark out.

“I have, but I’ve always felt like there’s something else I need to do here,” he replied. “I’m not entirely sure what it is, but there’s something. Plus there’s no other healer in the town, so if I left, they’d all be out a healer.”

“What about if - if,” they were interrupted by a yawn.

“How about you get to sleep and we can talk more in the morning.” Iwaizumi was exhausted too. He definitely should have slept more during the day.

“Fine,” Oikawa whined. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes as he pushed himself to his feet. His vision went partially black for a few seconds and he nearly stumbled on the way to a shelf to get the jar of betony he used earlier.

“This is betony. Sprinkle some of the petals on your pillow if you think you’re going to have nightmares,” Iwaizumi instructed, setting the jar down by the mattress. They nodded. “If you need anything in the middle of the night, just yell. And if you feel like going outside, don’t. Goodnight.”

“Night, Iwa-chan,” they said right before Iwaizumi left the room. He paused for a second before deciding that he just didn’t hear them right. As he climbed into his bed, he thought about how he wouldn’t actually mind it. Hanamaki and Matsukawa called him Iwa, but it felt more nickname-ish when it was Iwa-chan. He pulled up his blankets and decided that he’d think about it in the morning if, and only if, he actually heard them right.

\--

Oikawa picked up the jar of small flower blossoms. They were all so… delicate. It had been so long since they’d been outside, been anywhere but two rooms in the castle and the halls connecting them. Well, they hadn’t been to the second room for a while. The King wanted Oikawa competent at fighting, but once they got better, they stopped getting the lessons. They weren’t even allowed to practice any of their combat magic in their room. Now, though, they could probably do just about whatever they wanted.

Truth be told, the idea of staying in this town was appealing. Especially now that they knew Hanamaki was here. Had been here the entire time. And if they couldn’t get caught, then they could stay here for as long as they wanted. It was almost too good to be true and Oikawa was worried they might be dreaming and they’d wake up in the castle again.

They shook their head and set down the flowers. It couldn’t possibly be a dream. They would just know. The flowers smelled sweet when they opened the lid, and Oikawa immediately felt bad about using them. Sure, Iwaizumi had given the flowers to them, but they seemed so well cared for and preserved that Oikawa just felt weird about using them. Oikawa replaced the lid and decided they would sleep without the flowers. They had always been able to sleep before without them. Well, about half the time they were sedated and the other half of the time they nearly collapsed from exhaustion, but that was beside the point.

Oikawa laid on the mattress, staring at the wall. It wasn’t necessarily a comfortable mattress, but compared to what they were used to, it could have been the king’s mattress. They shut their eyes, amazed at how exhausted they actually were after sleeping for a lot of the day. It didn’t take very long for them to fall asleep.

_They were running, trying to go faster than they had ever run. They hadn’t had much of a chance to exercise ever, but they couldn’t let that stop them. Not when_ he _was following. He would take them back to the castle, probably lock them up in the dungeon alone until the king needed them. If they were caught here, there was no way they would ever get a chance to escape again._

_“Come on, Oikawa, you know you can’t run forever,” his voice boomed through the trees. Oikawa wasn’t sure if he was close or if his voice was just loud. “I’ll find you, just like I always do. It doesn’t matter that you made it out of the castle this time. I know this forest better than anyone and you haven’t even been let out in years. We both know you’re not going to get away. Just come back and I’ll be sure to go easy on you.”_

_They kept running farther and farther away, not sparing the time to glance back. A searing pain shot up their ankle and suddenly they were falling to the ground with a cry._

_“There you are.” His voice was low now, and quiet. Oikawa backed up so he was sitting with his back to a tree, the same one that had provided its root for him to trip over. “Last chance to come back nicely.”_

_Oikawa used the branches of the tree to pull themself up to keep running. They were stopped when_ he _landed in front of them, white feathered wings fluttering and pulling in behind him._

_“Found you.”_

Oikawa jolted awake and came face to face with Iwaizumi. Their heart was still racing and the ever present feeling of panic from their dream had followed them into consciousness. They immediately latched on to Iwaizumi’s waist, needing something to hold onto and ground themself.

“It’s alright, it was a nightmare. You’re safe here,” Iwaizumi said quietly, rubbing small circles on their back.

Oikawa let go with one hand, quickly wiping away the tears streaking down their face. “Sorry.”

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for,” Iwaizumi assured them.

“I woke you up, though.”

Iwaizumi shook his head. “I wasn’t sleeping yet. It usually takes me a while to fall asleep.”

“I just-I…” Oikawa trailed off, not sure what they were trying to say.

“It’s alright, I promise. Even if you had woken me up, I wouldn’t be mad. I care more about your well being than me losing a few minutes of sleep.”

“But I-”

Iwaizumi pulled away and held their shoulders, making sure Oikawa was looking at him while he talked. “I’m taking care of you because I want to. I know what that includes. You don’t need to be sorry for anything because I made this choice. Understand?” Oikawa nodded. Iwaizumi grabbed the jar of flower petals again and held it out to Oikawa. “Use these this time. I promise it’s very easy for me to get more, so you don’t have to worry about using up my stuff.” Iwaizumi got up and grabbed a smaller jar off of one of the higher shelves. He knelt down next to Oikawa’s mattress and poured a some of the contents into a mug and filled it with steaming water. “Let this cool off and then drink it. It’ll help you get back to sleep.”

“What is it?” Oikawa asked, looking at the drink suspiciously.

“Chamomile tea. I sometimes drink it after a nightmare to help me sleep again. It also helps with coughing. You’ll like it.”

Oikawa took the mug from Iwaizumi’s hand and took a sip. “Thanks. It’s not bad.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Iwaizumi said with a soft smile on his face. Oikawa yawned. “I’ll stay here until you fall asleep.”

“You don’t have to,” they said, yawning again. “I’m fine.”

“I want to.”

Iwaizumi’s voice didn’t leave much room for argument so Oikawa decided to drop it. They drank the rest of the tea and set the mug down. “Thank you,” they said quietly before laying back down on the mattress. Iwaizumi pulled the blanket up over their shoulders and sprinkled some of the betony over their pillow. They were glad it was dark so he couldn’t see the blush on their cheeks.

“Sleep well,” he said back, just as quietly.

“Iwa-chan?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you tell me a story?”

“What kind of story?”

Oikawa hummed. “I dunno. Just a story.”

“Alright, uhh, once upon a time…” Oikawa listened as Iwaizumi told a story about knights and witches and princesses in a far away kingdom. His voice was nice, soothing. Oikawa found themself drifting off to sleep peacefully, sooner than they had expected after that last dream. It was warm and safe here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on tumblr @theprettysettersclub  
> i'm also now part of @thewritersquad on tumblr


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry it's been like since august, but fun news, this only has one chapter left and there's also a prequel (which, probably read before this chapter) called from the castle to the woods
> 
> i can't really make any promises on when the next chapter for this _or_ the prequel will come out because i've got a lot of stuff i'm working on right now, but i hope it'll be soon! also the end of this chapter was really a last minute decision on my part bc i thought it would be fun

Iwaizumi woke up uncomfortable again. The first few rays of sunlight were filtering through the window of his work room. Oikawa was still sleeping soundly and Iwaizumi was glad they hadn’t woken up again in the middle of the night. He’d ended up sleeping on the floor again, but that was okay as long as Oikawa was comfortable and actually slept through the rest of the night.

He was more rested than the day before, even though he was stiff and sore. More of his energy was back, but it would still be another day before he would be able to use his magic fully again. He pushed himself up off the floor, groaning while he did at the stiffness in his bones.

It didn’t take him long to fill his bag today. Most of the medications he delivered all had to be delivered on the same day, so on days like today, his load was fairly light. It didn't look like Oikawa would be waking up anytime soon and Iwaizumi wasn’t going to be gone long, so he didn't bother writing a note for them before he left. 

The walk into town was pleasant, he even saw some kind of white bird he’d never seen before flying around. For some reason, though, he felt like it should mean something to him. As expected, Iwaizumi didn’t actually spend much time at the post office before he was headed home again. He didn’t bother stopping by Hanamaki’s house because he knew for a fact that there was no way he would be awake this early in the morning. All he did was leave a short note at the post office for Hanamaki, letting him know that he was welcome to stop by once he woke up.

Once again as expected, Oikawa was still sleeping when Iwaizumi returned. He envied them, just a little. He had never been able to sleep in for very long after the sun rose. Hadn’t for a long time. There really wasn’t much for him to do today in his house, but he didn’t want to go outside just in case Oikawa woke up while he was out and needed something. He’d have to settle for taking inventory of his medicines. It wasn’t his favorite thing (actually, it was the opposite) but he would have to do it at some point, and now was as good a time as ever, really.

He pushed open the windows of his work room, coughing when dust rose up. Maybe he had more to do than just inventory. He sighed, rolling up his sleeves. There was a small sneeze from below him, followed by a few thumps and fur in his face.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he laughed. “I haven’t shown you enough affection, I know. Don’t get jealous, Tora.” Iwaizumi lifted him up into his arms and started scratching his chin. “Is this better?” He was met with vigorous purring and he brought the cat up so he could bury his face in the long fur. “I’ve got stuff to do, you know,” he said, making no move towards putting Tora down. “I’m a busy guy.” Tora started rubbing his cheek against Iwaizumi. “I’m serious. I gotta put you down, I can’t do this without my hands.” Tora made absolutely no move to leave Iwaizumi’s arms and Iwaizumi made no move to force him down. He was rarely this cuddly with Iwaizumi, so he didn’t want to end this sooner than he needed to.

Eventually, Tora leapt down from his arms and out the open window. Iwaizumi didn’t try to stop him. He’d come back and he was a wild cat before he’d come to Iwaizumi as most things do: injured. He just stuck around longer than most other animals.

“That cat’s got more freedom than me.”

Iwaizumi spun around to find Oikawa sitting up in the bed. “How long have you been awake?”

“Since about,” Oikawa tilted their head and pretended to think about it, “when you picked Tora up.” Iwaizumi dragged his hand down his face, trying to will the flush away. “Cute-” Iwaizumi’s heart nearly stopped. There was no way. “-the cat, I mean.” Right, like he thought. No way.

“How are you feeling today?”

Oikawa shrugged. “I feel fine, for the most part. Like, better than I have in _ages_. My ankle still hurts and so does my knee, but not like _excruciating_ pain.”

“I think you and I have different definitions for the word fine. I’m glad you’re feeling better, though,” Iwaizumi said with a smile.

“Thanks, and I…” they trailed off, looking down and then back up at Iwaizumi, “I’m sorry about how I treated you yesterday. You’re only trying to help and I was being ungrateful.”

Iwaizumi shook his head. “It’s nothing, really. It would be stranger to me, after hearing your story, if you _trusted_ me or wanted to stay here. I probably didn’t handle it the best either, but you were scared and hurt and that’s enough to make anyone wary of things that seem too good to be true.”

“Speaking from experience?” Iwaizumi nodded. “There’s more to your own story, isn’t there?” Iwaizumi nodded again. “I won’t push. After all, you didn’t push me to say anything and I’m sure you’re brimming with questions.”

“I… thank you. Maybe some day, but it's still…” Iwaizumi trailed off. He didn't really know how to phrase it.

“I understand. I'm sure it'll be a while for me before I can _actually_ talk about what happened to me.”

“Well, if you decide to stay, you can always talk to me,” he offered. 

“Thank you,” they replied sincerely.

Iwaizumi nodded. “It's no problem. And about the town, whether you're going to stay or not. There's no contact with the outside world. At all. To them, at most, we’re a myth. There's also no guarantee how long has passed already. It seems like we've been following the same time for a few years if you and Hanamaki know each other, but it can change at any point in time. Technically I'm about a hundred years old.” He smiled to himself. “I think I look pretty good for my age. But anyway, an hour or a year could have passed by now and we wouldn't know. Time hasn't ever gone backwards, though, so you don't have to worry about that. Also, the nights are dangerous unless someone is arriving. You wouldn't have survived long enough to make it to my door. This place is safe at a cost. But it is safe if you follow the rules.”

“What rules?”

“One: threats to this town or the people in it are not tolerated. The town brought everyone here for safety and if someone is a threat to that, they will be… evicted. It’s only happened once since I got here, but someone tried to kill another and they vanished before landing a blow. I don’t know what happened to that person after, if they survived or not. 

“Two: do not go outside after dark. As soon as the sun sets, it’s not safe. Well, it’s safe still from outside influences, but something comes out after dark. I hope you never meet it. 

“Three: everyone here is allowed their privacy. You don’t want everyone knowing your story and not everyone wants to know yours. It’s really just common courtesy. I’m sure you won’t have a problem with it, but it’s worth mentioning. Treat everyone here with respect and you will receive the same treatment.” Iwaizumi paused. “Any questions?”

Oikawa shook their head. “It seems pretty straight forward. Well, actually…” they trailed off.

“What is it?”

“What about, like, animals? Can they go back and forth between here and the outside world?”

Iwaizumi shrugged. “I assume. Animals don’t typically hold any malice towards anyone here. Well, I’m not sure how it would work with the time differences, but they probably can. Why?”

“I just… uh… the guard…” Oikawa trailed off and it took Iwaizumi a second to make a connection between what they were saying and what they had said the night before. “The guard has a familiar. A white hawk. He can see through its eyes. If… if it can come here, h-he could find me and find a way to come here and… and drag me back and- and- and-”

They were shaking, running their fingers through their hair and pulling. Iwaizumi pushed off the table he had been leaning on and rushed to their side. He eased their hands out of their hair.

“Squeeze down as hard as you need, alright? I won’t mind, I promise. I’m here to help, remember? I’ll keep you safe. Deep breaths, yeah?” Iwaizumi winced when Oikawa squeezed his hands hard enough to hurt, digging their nails in. “Focus on my voice, okay? Do it with me. In,” he put their hands on his chest, not letting go yet, so Oikawa could feel his breaths, “and out. In and out. I got you. In and out.”

Iwaizumi continued to talk until Oikawa could breathe regularly again and had stopped shaking.

“I’m sorry,” they whispered, pointedly looking down. They hadn’t let go of Iwaizumi’s hands, but their grip was looser now.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for. You’re not okay yet and that’s okay. I don’t expect you to instantly be better, physically or mentally. Gods know it took me a _long_ time before I was even close to okay. I still can’t do some things.”

“What if… what if I’m never okay?”

“You might not be,” Iwaizumi said truthfully. He hadn’t planned on getting attached to Oikawa, but when has anything ever worked out the way he planned. “But I’m going to do my best to at least give you some ways to cope when you’re not okay. Even if you choose to move on from here, I’m gonna do the best I can to make sure you can take care of yourself.”

“Thank you.”

“You can take your time with things like this, you know. I know we don’t _really_ know each other well, but… you seem like the kind of person to try and rush things. Healing takes time.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Oikawa replied. “So what were you going to do if I was still asleep?”

Iwaizumi wrinkled his nose. “Cleaning and inventory. Nothing fun, I promise.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“Inventory, if you’re willing. You don’t have to, though,” Iwaizumi assured them. “It _would_ be a great help.”

“I’d love to help,” Oikawa smiled up at him. “Just tell me what to do.”

“Right, so,” Iwaizumi stepped up onto a chair in order to grab a book off the top shelf, “it’s been awhile since I last did this. I usually just hope I remember what I need to grow.” He handed Oikawa the book and found a pencil for them. “Just write down what I say.”

“How long has it been?” Oikawa asked, brushing the dust off the book.

Iwaizumi tilted his head trying to think of just how long it had been. “A… while.”

They went through a lot more than Iwaizumi had expected in a short amount of time. It helped that there were two of them and that Oikawa quickly found their own way of doing things. He was fairly certain they were _alphabetizing_ everything. Or at least organizing everything in some sort of logical way. (Iwaizumi just always put everything down and hoped he could find it when he needed to.)

It was around noon when there was a knock on the door. Out of the corner of his eye, Iwaizumi saw Oikawa stiffen and relax quickly. 

“It’s probably Hanamaki and Matsukawa. They were thinking of stopping over again today,” Iwaizumi explained. “Did you want time alone to talk to Hanamaki?”

“If it’s no trouble,” Oikawa responded.

“Of course it’s not,” Iwaizumi assured him. “Here, give me your hands.” Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa up, holding them so they didn’t have to put much weight on their injuries. He held his hand over the bed and changed it into a chair before lowering Oikawa back into it.

“Thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” Iwaizumi responded. “I’ll be right back.”

He led Hanamaki back to Oikawa and only stayed long enough to ask if either of them needed anything before he went to wait in his living room with Matsukawa. Then spent the next hour pacing around and cleaning while Matsukawa, bless him, tried to calm his jittery nerves.

“Why don’t you just go in and check on them?” Matsukawa suggested, not for the first time. “I really don’t think this room can get any cleaner at this point.”

Before Iwaizumi could give the same answer of how he didn’t want to bother them, the door swung open and Hanamaki walked out. His red eyes didn’t escape Iwaizumi’s notice and he had to make a conscious effort not to rush to Oikawa’s side immediately.

“Oikawa wants to talk to you,” Hanamaki said distantly, it sounded almost sad. “Mattsun and I are gonna go home now. If you need us, we’ll probably be there for the rest of the day.”

Iwaizumi nodded and as soon as they were out his front door, he walked as calmly as he could to his work room. The door was slammed shut behind him as soon as he entered. Oikawa was standing in the middle of the room, petting a bird. _No,_ Iwaizumi realized. _Not just any bird. A white falcon._

“Oikawa?”

Oikawa turned around to face Iwaizumi. Some black liquid dripped down their face from their eyes. Well, it wasn’t really a liquid. It looked the same as the curse they had shown up with. They grinned, and when they spoke, it wasn’t with Oikawa’s voice. “Not quite. It’s been a while, though, Hajime. I really did think you’d died. And that this place was a myth. But I guess I can’t _always_ be right.”

He recognized that voice, _knew_ that voice. Still sometimes had nightmares about that voice. He backed up to the door and tried to open it, but the handle wouldn’t budge.

“Come now, Hajime,” Oikawa, well, _not_ Oikawa, walked toward him. “You know it’s more difficult than that to get away from me, don’t you?” Iwaizumi looked down and nodded. “Obviously you haven’t changed much. You’re still just a scared, _weak_ kid, aren’t you.” Iwaizumi didn’t respond until his face was grabbed and he was forced to look up. “ _Aren’t you_.”

“Fuck you,” he growled. “I’m nothing like I was-”

“Oh really?” A small fireball formed in Oikawa’s hand and Iwaizumi flinched away. “That doesn’t seem much different.”

“Nakamura, _stop_ ,” Iwaizumi tried to sound commanding, but his voice wavered.

“So you _do_ remember me,” Nakamura hummed, pleased. He brought the fireball closer to Iwaizumi who pressed himself closer to the door.

“How could I forget?” he hissed. “Get out of Oikawa. And if you’re going to threaten me,” he said, grabbing Oikawa’s wrist and pushing it away from him, dispelling the fireball in the process, “do it in person.”

Nakamura hummed. “I would, but you seem to evade me no matter what I do. Here like this, I guarantee that you won’t get away from me.”

“You have to go back to your own body at some point, don’t you?”

“I have time here,” Nakamura replied, grabbing Iwaizumi’s throat and pushing him into the door. “I can make do with what I’ve got.”

“You know that time passes differently here, right? You never know when it could be too late.”

“Why do you say that?”

Iwaizumi shrugged, closing his eyes. He was sure to be put through torment in the next few minutes, but if he played his cards right, both he and Oikawa would be free. If he could remember how to do this.

He felt claws digging into his neck, but he didn’t bother to open his eyes. Not until he remembered the spell in full.

  
_The people of this town_  
Shall always be protected  
In the face of threats  
We will not be affected 

_Let the walls go up_  
None shall move through  
To enter or exit  
Until the threat we subdue 

_The years outside shall fly by_  
Each faster than the last  
Until I, Iwaizumi Hajime  
Deem the threat as passed  


He opened his eyes when he finished reciting the spell. He took the smallest bit of pride in the surprised expression that Nakamura was expressing on Oikawa’s face.

“What did you just do?”

Iwaizumi smiled. “I cut you off from your anchor. _Nothing_ can get through the town line right now, not even your spirit to get back to your body. You’re finished, Nakamura. You can’t stay in Oikawa for too long, otherwise they’ll be able to fight back and you won’t be strong enough without an anchor.”

“You- you-”

“It’s over for good this time. You can’t come back from this.”

Oikawa’s body collapsed and Iwaizumi rushed forward to catch them, not bothering with the bird flying out the window. He immediately started trying to heal them. Being possessed wasn’t easy on the mind or body and Iwaizumi wouldn’t be surprised if it took Oikawa another day or so to wake up again.

\--

Oikawa’s eyes fluttered open and they looked around the room. They could have sworn something had happened, but it didn’t look like anything had changed.

“You’re awake already?” they heard Iwaizumi exclaim in surprise.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You were… you were possessed,” Iwaizumi explained, “by the guard you were worried about.”

“How do you know it was him?” Oikawa asked, sitting up, finding Iwaizumi sitting against the door to the room. “If it was, how am I still here?”

Iwaizumi tilted his head back and laughed humorlessly. “I know it was him because I know _him_. Nakamura.”

“Is that his name?” Iwaizumi nodded. “So how am I still here?”

“I sealed the town completely. No one leaves, no one comes in. We’re completely disconnected from the outside world right now. Nakamura’s spirit can’t get back to his body, so he won’t be giving anyone any trouble anymore.”

Iwaizumi used the door handle to pull himself to his feet. “I have to go tell everyone so that no one leaves before I’m sure it’s safe to open the town again.” He paused, taking a deep breath and resting his head against the door.

“Iwa-chan? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Iwaizumi said faintly. “I just feel a little…” he trailed off.

“Iwa-chan?” Oikawa repeated.

Iwaizumi fell to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please comment if you liked it!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh here I am finally with the last chapter! i hope you all like the ending!
> 
> also i have a playlist for the fic in general [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHdBxQSGY6NuqcPs2Zb34o7_BF90yaG6j) if anyone wants to check it out

Oikawa _hated_ their legs at that moment. They wanted to rush over to Iwaizumi, but when they tried to stand, they fell over, so they were forced to crawl. “Iwaizumi, _please_ wake up,” they said, turning him over so he was lying on his back. “Please.”

Iwaizumi was at least breathing, but Oikawa couldn’t tell much else about his condition. They wished they could have been able to learn _any_ healing magic, but they hadn’t ever been able to heal even small cuts. Oikawa put their hand over Iwaizumi’s forehead, hoping that they might be able to pull something off now, but still nothing.

“Please wake up, you’ve gotta,” Oikawa whispered, feeling tears gather in their eyes. “ _Iwa-chan, please_.”

Oikawa heard the front door open and they instinctively pulled Iwaizumi close, fully ready to protect him if need be.

“Iwaizumi?” Oikawa heard Hanamaki call out and they breathed a sigh of relief. “Something felt weird, are you alright? Iwaizumi?”

“Makki! We’re in here!” they called out, keeping their voice as steady as possible. They lowered Iwaizumi back to the floor before Hanamaki practically threw the door open.

“What happened?”

“I- I don’t know. I… Iwaizumi said I got possessed and that he sealed the town or something. He was going to tell everyone, but he fell over when he stood up.”

“You were possessed?” Hanamaki asked in surprise, kneeling down next to Iwaizumi. “But you were fine when we were talking.”

Oikawa shrugged. “That’s what Iwaizumi said. Can you help him?”

Hanamaki nodded. “He completely exhausted himself magically. All he needs is a spark of magic and then he’ll be able to wake up soon. He’d probably wake up in a few hours, at the latest tomorrow morning, but with help he can wake up again much sooner.”

“How do you know all that?”

“Iwa does this more often than he should, honestly.” Hanamaki hovered his hand over Iwaizumi’s chest. Oikawa could see the small bit of magic flow into Iwaizumi. “I keep warning him that one of these days he’s going to suffer some sort of permanent damage, but since there are no records of any permanent damage, he refuses to believe me.”

“What kind of permanent damage?”

Hanamaki shrugged. “Could be anything, really. Who knows? All I know is that Iwaizumi takes a bit longer each time to wake up again.”

Oikawa bit their lip. “But… he will wake up, right?”

“Of course he will,” Hanamaki reassured him. “I’m going to take him to his bed so he can rest. Do you want to stay in his room with him so you’re there when he wakes up?”

“Would it be okay with him?” Hanamaki nodded. “Then yes, I’d like that.”

Hanamaki picked Iwaizumi up and left the room, leaving Oikawa alone. They didn’t have long to wait before he was back to get the chair and then Oikawa.

“Do you need anything before I leave?” Hanamaki asked from the doorway.

“No, I’ll be fine,” they answered quietly. “You’ll be back tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah,” Hanamaki said, nodding. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

Oikawa waved and Hanamaki left them alone with Iwaizumi and their thoughts.

\--

Iwaizumi groaned and brought his hand up to his forehead. He had a pounding headache and in general felt like shit. He couldn’t remember how he got into his room. The last thing he _could_ remember was trying to go tell the town about how he had closed the barrier. After that, nothing.

“Iwa-chan, you’re awake,” he heard Oikawa sigh in relief. He opened his eyes slowly, squeezing his eyes shut once he got them fully opened. Once Iwaizumi finally was able to actually open his eyes, he saw that Oikawa was sitting on a chair next to his bed.

“What are you doing here?” Iwaizumi asked quietly.

“You passed out and I was freaking out, but then Makki got here and he said that it was just magical exhaustion and that you’d wake up in a few hours,” they explained.

“Ah, sorry, I should have told you about that,” Iwaizumi said, rubbing his face. “I don’t have a lot of magical stamina, so I’m prone to accidentally doing too much sometimes.”

Oikawa squinted at him. “Can I try something?”

Iwaizumi shrugs. “What is it?”

“I want to check your magical stamina. There’s just something that doesn’t quite match up with what I know.”

“As long as it’s not strenuous for you, go ahead.”

Oikawa smiled. “I’m not sure you’re in any position to talk to me about strenuous things.”

Iwaizumi laughed. “I guess not.”

Oikawa set their hands over Iwaizumi’s chest. He felt a warm wave flow through him and almost felt as though something were being pulled out. “This wasn’t something I thought of earlier when you collapsed, but I probably should have. Open your eyes.”

Iwaizumi opened his eyes, not realizing that he had closed them. Some sort of diagram was floating in front of him. “What’s that?”

“It’s a spell I wrote. This part,” Oikawa pointed to a place on it, “shows how much magical energy you’ve got left. You’re about halfway back to 100%. Cast a small spell, just lift something up for me.”

Iwaizumi raised a corner of the blanket and watched the bar showing his energy dive. “What’s that mean?”

“You used around ten percent of your energy just lifting that up. Your issue is that you’ve never properly been taught magic. Even small spells like that one take a lot out of you. You’ve actually got a lot of magic built up in your body, you just use too much of it when you do anything. And there’s a lock on it.” Oikawa hummed, pressing down on a part of Iwaizumi’s back. “I think it’s here.”

Iwaizumi cried out in pain. It definitely wasn’t the worst he’d had, but it was _weird_ and it hurt. But afterwards, once Oikawa lifted their hand up, it was overwhelming. He felt lighter than ever, though. Like he could do anything.

“What did you do?” Iwaizumi asked breathlessly.

“Just look,” Oikawa said, pointing at the floating diagram once more. “You’ve got nearly ten times the energy. It must have been suppressed somehow, but I’m not sure how.”

Iwaizumi thought back. The recent encounter with Nakamura had brought a lot of memories back to the surface. “I think I know,” he said quietly. “I… it was probably Nakamura.” Iwaizumi rolled over and sat up, bringing his knees up to his chest. “He made me wear this weird bracelet and I know it suppressed my magic for a while, but I just thought it was temporary because I can use magic again.”

“So you… you really did know him?”

Iwaizumi nodded. “I have no idea how old he is by now, how long it’s been in the real world, but yeah. I did. I thought… I thought that he’d have died by now, honestly. I spent two years living with him maybe? Could have been three. It’s honestly kinda blurry for the most part. I’ve also spent a few years here. Enough that I’m… not so paranoid of the thought of him.”

“Wow,” Oikawa breathed out. “I feel like such an asshole now. I’m so sorry for what I said to you.”

 

Iwaizumi shrugged. “You didn’t know. Actually, no one here knows about that part, so I’d appreciate if you didn’t tell anyone.”

“Of course I won’t tell anyone,” they said, smiling softly.

“Thanks. I’ve been meaning to tell someone, but I just…” he trailed off, unsure how to finish. He really couldn’t explain why he trusted Oikawa enough to tell them more about his past, even if he hadn’t gone into much detail.

“I understand,” Oikawa said. “Uh, also, I think… I think I want to stay. I was thinking about it while you were asleep and I’m… I’m safe here. Right?” Iwaizumi nodded. “So I want to stay. But, um, I,” Oikawa bit their lip. Iwaizumi stayed quiet to let them figure out what they want to say. They took a breath and continued, “I don’t know that I would want to be alone.”

“You could stay here,” Iwaizumi said, maybe a little too quickly. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“I could?” they ask quietly. “You’re sure it wouldn’t be a problem?”

Iwaizumi nodded firmly. “Positive. And… I wouldn’t mind having a partner. You know, if you’re… if you’re willing. I could teach you how to use different herbs and things and maybe even some healing magic.”

Oikawa smiled. “I’d love to. I can’t do any healing magic, but I’ll definitely help with the herbs and things.”

Iwaizumi smiled and stood up. He stretched before reaching out to help Oikawa stand as well, supporting most of their weight as he transferred them to the bed. “You can always learn, you know.” He placed his hands on Oikawa’s right ankle, starting to heal it again. It was much easier to do more today. “Actually, if I’ve got as much energy as you say I do, I should be able to finish healing this tomorrow.”

“Make sure you don’t overdo it, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said worriedly.

Iwaizumi stopped for a second. “Iwa-chan?” _So he hadn’t been imagining the few times Oikawa had called him that._

“I… it’s a nickname. Is that okay?”

Iwaizumi smiled to himself. “I don’t mind it. Here,” he said, offering his hand, “you should be able to stand and walk around a little now. I wouldn’t recommend going very far, though.”

Oikawa took his hand and gently placed their feet on the floor. “You’re sure?” Iwaizumi nodded. They used Iwaizumi’s support to stand, smiling widely when they actually could. “Thank you,” they said sincerely. Iwaizumi noticed only a moment’s hesitation before they threw their arms around his shoulders. “You’ve done so much for me, I don’t know if I can ever repay you.”

“You don’t need to,” Iwaizumi said, returning the hug. “I’m glad you’ve decided to stay. I was hoping you would.”

“I think,” Oikawa replied, pulling away slightly, “I’ll stay until you tell me to leave.”

Iwaizumi laughed. “I don’t think we know each other quite well enough to say that yet, but you’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you’d like. Like I said, I wouldn’t mind having a partner.”

“Then, forgive me if I’m reading too far into this, but,” Oikawa spoke softly before leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Iwaizumi’s lips, “I wouldn’t mind having a partner either.”

Iwaizumi’s mind completely short circuited. He could feel his face warming up and knew that he should be saying something, but he couldn’t find the mental capacity to do so. 

Instead, he leaned forward and kissed Oikawa again.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [from the castle to the woods](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12731742) by [nightshade002](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightshade002/pseuds/nightshade002)




End file.
